Means for operating foot-boards or steps of open or side-entering street-cars



No. 626,892. Patentedv June |3,`|a99. R. E Monv.

l MEANS FOB OPERATING FDUTBOARDS 0R STEPS 0F OPEN 0R SIDE ENTERINGSTREET CARS.

(Application filed Jan. 2B, 1899.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

No. 626,892. Patented June I3, |899.

- R. EMORY. MEANS FOR UPERATING FOUTBOARDS 0B STEPS 0F OPENV 0B SIDEENTERING STREET CARS.

(Appxicaxio med Jan. 2e, 189e.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(Ilo Model.)

I v -WlI-NEEEEE- `r CT Nvt-:NTER- cles.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIc-E.

RICHARD EMORY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

MEANS IOR OPERATING FOOT-BOARDSDR STEPS OF OPEN 0R SIDE-ENIERINGSTREET-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 626,892, dated June 13,1899.

Application filed January 28, 1899. Serial No. 703,671. (No model.) v

T0 a/ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD EMORY, of the city of Baltimore, in theState of Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in Means forOperatin g the Foot-Boards or Steps of Open or Side-EnteringStreet-Cars,of which the following is a specification.

To fully understand the nature of the present invention, it must beremembered that the foot-boards of open or summer street-cars are hingedto the body, so that the foot-board which is next to the unused tracklmay be lifted and heldagainst the body to prevent its being struck andinjured by passing vehi- The turned-up foot-board is secured by a hooksuspended from the car-body by hand, the conductor or motorman leavingthe platform for the purpose.

It sometimes occurs in crowded thoroughfares that the used foot-board isin danger of being injured by collision with a passing vehicle, and insuch case it is impossible to lift the foot-board held as describedwhile the car is in motion, even if the conductor or motorman couldleave the car for the purpose.

The object of the present invention is therefore to enable the conductoror motorman to have control of the foot-boards, so as to operate eitheror both of them without leaving the car.

With this in view the invention consists in counterbalancing thefoot-boards, so that little power is required to move them, and inproviding each foot-board with means whereby it may be raised andlowered from the platform of the car.

In the further description of the said' invention which followsreference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof,and in which- Figure l' is a perspective view of an open street-carprovided with present invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged details ofthe mechanism for moving the foot-boards. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are stillenlarged details of the footboard and the devices whereby it is hingedto the car-body and counterbalanced. Fig. 7 illustrates a modificationin the construction of the hand-lever for operating the footboards.

Referring now to the drawings, A is the 'toreceive the hand -lever andhold it.

body of an open street-car, and B B are the front and rear plarforms. y

C C are the foot-boards, hinged, as shown in Figs. 2, 4, 5, and 6, tothe brackets a,which project in a downward direction from the under sideof the floor of the car. Each footboard is provided with an arm D,having a weight E, which is adjustable in position thereon tocounterbalance the foot-board.

On each platform B of the car is a handlever G, pivoted under the sameto some part of the car-body. The lever passes through a slotted plate Iin the floor of the platform, of such length as to admit of the leverhaving the proper range of movement. The lever is held in either eXtremeposition by means of a pivoted dog J, operated by the foot. -This dog ispivoted centrally of its length and provided with a notch b at each end,adapted (See Fig. 3.) v

The lower and short arm of the hand-lever G is connected to a bar K,bolted to the footboard, by a link L, as shown in Fig. 2.

hand-lever and move the lever over to the other end of the slot, when'itwill be held until again released.

The apparatus as above described may be cheapened without reducing itseffectiveness by terminating the hand-levers below the carplatform andproviding their ends with a socket c, adapted to receive a removablehandle which may b e transferred from one end of the car to the other.With this arrangement, however, only one foot-board could be operated atone time, and where it is necessary to have both foot-boardscontrollable, as in crowded streets, it is, perhaps, the better plan tohave a hand-lever for each foot-board.

It will be understood that the hand-levers on the ends or platforms ofthe car are in reversed positions. Consequently the conductorand-motorman, no matter in which direction the car is moving, willalways have a lever convenient to the same hand I claim as myinvention-e Y In combination with the platform of a street car, having atransverse slot therein, a hinged counterbalanced foot-board providedwithv ICO over the seid slot so as to engage with the 1o hand-lever andho1d-it in either of its extreme positions, substantially as, and forthe pure pose specified.

RICHARD EMOR-Y.

Witnesses:

JOHN L. HEBB, WM. T. HOWARD.

